Agenda Item
i. Renewal of RFP 22-462, The DeKalb County School District’s (“District”) Workers’ Compensation Third Party Administrator Services (Brentwood), Renewal Year 4 of 5 (Not to exceed $504,413.46)
Summary: Presented by: Mr. H. Eric Hilton, Chief Legal Officer, Division of Legal Services
Request: It is requested that the Board of Education approve the renewal of the District's Third-Party Administrator Services with Brentwood Services Administrators ("Brentwood"), for an amount not to exceed $504,413.46 unfixed claim costs, excluding bill review fees that are billed monthly based on volume.
Why: The contract renewal with Brentwood will enable the District to continue the efficient provision of adjuster services for new and longstanding workers’ compensation claims.
Details: This item requests that the DeKalb County Board of Education (“Board”) approve the contract renewal for the District’s Workers’ Compensation Third Party Administrator Services with Brentwood. On July 13, 2021, Brentwood was selected after a competitive RFP process. That process sought expertise to minimize the number of claims per year and to reduce the overall cost of the District’s workers’ compensation program. RFP 22-462, Workers’ Compensation Third Party Administrative Services, was placed for bid on March 18, 2021. The companies that submitted proposals in response to the solicitation were Brentwood, Broadspire Services (“Broadspire”) and USIS.
Broadspire’s cost proposal was $703,272 a year plus $10,000 for data consolidation and $3,000 for initial set up. USIS submitted a cost proposal of $564,250 a year plus $5,000 for electronic file conversion. In addition, a 12.5% fee would be charged by Broadspire for any subrogation recovery.
The review committee decided that the vendor that would provide the best quality and customized claim services at a competitive price was Brentwood. Previously, in 2013 and again in 2016, Brentwood was also selected as a result of a competitive RFP process.
At its business meeting on September 13, 2021, the Board approved a new contract for the District’s Third-Party Administrator Services with Brentwood for an amount not to exceed $466,000.00 in fixed claim costs, subject to a two percent annual increase, excluding bill review fees that are billed monthly based on volume. Ultimately, Brentwood was awarded the contract because of the quality of service it provides in addition to the company’s willingness to furnish customized claim services at a competitive price.
At its business meeting on August 10, 2022, the Board approved the renewal of the contract for the District’s Third-Party Administrator Services with Brentwood. The renewal amount was $475,320.00 in fixed claim costs, subject to a two percent annual increase, excluding bill review fees that are billed monthly based on volume.
At its business meeting on July 10, 2023, the Board approved the renewal of the contract for the District’s Third-Party Administrator Services with Brentwood. The renewal amount was $484,826.40 in fixed claim costs, subject to a two percent annual increase, excluding bill review fees that are billed monthly based on volume.
At its business meeting on October 7, 2024, the Board approved the renewal of the contract for the District’s Third-Party Administrator Services with Brentwood. The renewal amount was $494,523.00 in fixed claim costs, subject to a two percent annual increase, excluding bill review fees that are billed monthly based on volume.
Brentwood has effectively helped the District process new and longstanding workers’ compensation claims. Brentwood provides the District with medical bill review services that result in cost reduction through the utilization of their networks, and application of the Georgia Workers’ Compensation fee schedule. Moreover, Brentwood provides the District with two claims adjusters, a claims assistant, and a claims supervisor. Although not assigned solely to the District, Brentwood provides the District with access to a claims manager to assist with various matters. In addition to the staff provided by Brentwood, the District employs three full time workers’ compensation claim adjusters. Also, at no additional cost, Brentwood furnishes the District with access to SUCCEED, which is a web site that dispenses loss prevention recommendations.
In addition, at no cost to the District, Brentwood has converted existing claims data to the Brentwood claims system. That system is called ClaimsXpress. The conversion to ClaimsXpress enables the District to utilize the Brentwood claims system and allow Brentwood to issue claim related workers’ compensation checks, and liability checks, to claimants, employees, physicians and vendors. The checks are sent overnight as needed. The transfer of the check issuance process from the District’s Accounts Payable Department to Brentwood ensures continual check issuance in the event District offices are closed due to a pandemic or natural disaster.
Further, another service provided by Brentwood is the Medicare Section 111 Reporting. This is an automated process through Brentwood’s ClaimsXpress System. A weekly data feed is provided to ExamWorks who reports to Medicare on the District’s behalf. The District is a mandatory reporter under Section 111 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007. The Medicare Secondary Payer (“MSP”) policy is designed to ensure that the Medicare Program does not pay for healthcare expenses for which another entity is legally responsible.
Lastly, Brentwood also completes the annual reporting of the mandatory WC-26 report. This is the consolidated yearly report of medical only cases and annual payments on indemnity claims. This report is required by the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation. In addition to this report, Brentwood assists with providing other metrics such as tracking of timely contacts, reporting of payments/settlements broken down by category, providing excess workers’ compensation insurance renewal documentation, and gathering of data for various other reports.
Financial impact: This is a budgeted expense within the Risk Management budget. The cost is paid in quarterly installments. Medical bill review costs will be paid monthly based on volume from the workers’ compensation claims budget. The account charge code from which the expense will be paid is 100.2500.530000.15311.7490.9990.8010.080.0000.
Contact: Mr. H. Eric Hilton, Chief Legal Officer, Division of Legal Services, 678-676-0159,
Mr. Glinton R. Darien, Jr., Director of Legal Affairs, Division of Legal Services, 678-676-0403
Effective: November 1, 2025
Status: Approved by the Office of Legal Affairs
Summary Savings Analysis
DeKalb County School
March 2023 - December 2023
Savings
Review Type Bills Lines Billed Charges F/S Reductions Audit Negotiated PPO Reductions Total Reductions Total Paid
Reductions Reductions
Inpatient 25 242 $1,800,022.78 $1,678,832.49 $19,321.03 $0.00 $0.00 $1,698,153.52 $101,869.26
Outpatient 170 696 $1,896,035.21 $1,299,063.15 $45,776.93 $0.00 $58,880.75 $1,403,720.83 $492,314.38
Provider 8,491 24,352 $5,363,956.32 $2,911,306.77 $203,287.94 $0.00 $268,594.31 $3,383,189.02 $1,980,767.30
Grand Total 8,686 25,290 $9,060,014.31 $5,889,202.41 $268,385.90 $0.00 $327,475.06 $6,485,063.37 $2,574,950.94
Fees
Review Type Bill Fees Audit Fees PPO Fees Total Fees
Inpatient ($4,159.63) $4,250.63 $0.00 $91.00
Outpatient ($4,037.87) $10,380.90 $12,953.73 $19,296.76
Provider $43,164.47 $44,969.64 $53,655.05 $141,789.16
Grand Total $34,966.97 $59,601.17 $66,608.78 $161,176.92
PPO Penetration
Review Type Bills Ineligible Eligible Bills PPO Bills Bill Penetration Eligible Charges PPO Charges Charge
Bills Penetration
Inpatient 25 21 4 0 0.00% $101,869.26 $0.00 0.00%
Outpatient 170 42 128 81 63.28% $551,195.13 $58,880.75 10.68%
Provider 8,491 1,924 6,567 5,416 82.47% $2,249,361.61 $268,594.31 11.94%
Grand Total 8,686 1,987 6,699 5,497 82.06% $2,902,426.00 $327,475.06 11.28%
Gross/Net Savings %
Review Type Gross Savings Net Savings ROI
Inpatient 94.34% 94.34% 18661:1
Outpatient 74.03% 73.02% 73:1
Provider 63.07% 60.43% 24:1
Grand Total 71.58% 69.80% 40:1